Week 34 -The Great Earth Beneath You

All day long we humans are walking around on the surface of the earth and we are often unaware of the huge ball that is our platform for life. We are equally oblivious to the force of gravity that the earth exerts on us.

Moreover when we are up in our heads, on automatic pilot, distracted and ruminating, we are easily pushed off balance. If however our attention is extended through the bottoms of our feet to the earth, we feel grounded and rooted and present in this moment, less swayed by thoughts, emotions and other cognitive events.

Instructions

As often as possible, become aware of the earth beneath you, become aware through sight and through touch, especially the touches on the bottoms of the feet. By working with our attention in this way, we are grounding ourselves in our experience as it unfolds from moment to moment.

I like to walk alone on country paths, rice plants and wild grasses on both sides, putting each foot down on the earth in mindfulness, knowing that I walk on the wondrous earth. In such moments, existence is a miraculous and mysterious reality. People usually consider walking on water or thin air a miracle. But I think the real miracle is to walk on earth….a miracle we do not even recognise.

Thich Nhat Hanh

These practices are adapted from How to Train a Wild Elephant & Other Adventures in Mindfulness by Jan Chozen Bays. You can find out more, read my review of and purchase this book from my Mindfulness Library (page 2)

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3 Responses to Week 34 -The Great Earth Beneath You

I just returned from a lovely walk in Dulwich Woods to find an e-mail about this week’s practice. Thank you James. My experience was more about looking up through the beech leaves (week 17) than feeling the great earth beneath me. I look forward to focusing on this week’s practice and noticing the miracle of the earth. Thank you for this James, and for all 34 practices you have shared with us this year. I feel much more peaceful than I did at the start of the year. And I like the picture of the turtle that’s been stuck on the bathroom door ever since ‘leave no trace’ week.

Apologies for the tardy reply Melissa, I have also been reacquainting myself with the ‘great earth beneath me’ on retreat; in this case the great red earth of Devonshire clay , the exquisitely beautiful river Dart that runs through said clay and a mattock, which I have been hefting into the aforementioned to dig up brambles as part of my mindful work /service to the community where I was staying……Oh and lots and lots of meditation.

My emotions have been spiralling all over the place at the moment. This is just the moment that I need to remember to stay anchored to the ground. To stay grounded and enjoy the moment not to run into the realm of fantasy. Not to fly away into my worries for the future.

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